I Hate Zombies
by Jeff Hardy is Rad
Summary: A couple is stuck in the zombie Apocalypse together. With thoughts of invincibility, everything can change. Francis x OC
1. Chapter 1: Nothing Could Go Wrong

**A/N:** I haven't seriously written a story for other to read, aside from my best friend and myself, therefore this might not be the best. But I'm doing it anyway. Warning: my grammar isn't the best, but I try my best to fix all my mistakes (and lucky for me Google chrome tells me when I spell something wrong). Lastly, I did read up on the characters on their Wiki, but I'm not going to memorize it and use every little detail. This is my story, so some things will be different than what they are supposed to be like, i.e., Francis' girlfriend is not Sandra, she is Christy, and he was not in jail.

I got the idea for this story while reading two others and the little creativity that is in my mind.

Enjoy.

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"Christy, are you ready yet?" the impatient man yelled up to his girlfriend of almost three years. "We're going to be late." He was now walking up the stairs to their shared room inside their shared house.

The door opened as he reached the top step and out walked Christine, or better known to her boyfriend, Christy. She was wearing her favourite white cut-off tank top underneath her leather jacket, and a a pair of black skinny jeans.

"Damn, you're hot." Her boyfriend scooped her in his arms and placed a kiss on her lips.

She laughed as he put her down, then glared at him, looking at him up and down.

"What?"

"Are you seriously going to wear that?" She asked, looking at his old and worn-out leather vest.

"Of course, you know I love my vest," he smirked. "But if we don't leave soon, we're going to be late."

"Late for what? We're just doing our usual Friday night routine of going to the bar and playing some pool." Christy laughed as they made their way down stairs and out to their motorcycle. "Francis, what are you doing?" she asked when she noticed he wasn't outside yet.

"Just grabbing the keys, babe." He jogged out to her, jumping on his bike, Christy being right behind him. He checked his pocket, feeling the red velvet box containing the diamond ring he planned on placing on her left finger later that night. Smiling, he started the bike and they made their way to their usual Biker bar.

Parking next to a familiar bike, they made their way inside, sitting at the bar.

"Francis, Christy, my two favourite people!" The bartender yelled from the other side of the counter. "How are you two doing tonight? Shall I get you the usual?"

"Hey, Rick. We're doing pretty good. Yeah, you know what we like." Francis replied, checking with Christy to make sure she wanted her usual rum and coke.

Rick poured the two drinks, handing them over. Rick was Francis best friend for the past ten years and knew what he was planning for later that night. He looked at Francis with a questioningly look to see if he was still planning it. Francis responded with a slight nod.

"Hey, Christy?" The waitress, Sophie, came over to her new found friend in the city after she had moved her from New Jersey.

"Hey, Soph. How's the new house?" Christy asked, catching up.

Francis noticed the two girls talking and took advantage of it, walking over to talk with Rick.

"So, after tonight you're going to be engaged. How's it feel, lover boy?" Rick asked as he say Francis coming over, making fun of his buddy.

"I am, and I don't care how much you laugh at me. I love Christy. Nothing can stop me tonight. Nothing could go wrong." Francis smiled.

"Alright, well don't get too mushy with me, you know I hate all this love bullshit."

"That's because you're too afraid to ask Sophie out." Francis poked fun. "Come on, wuss."

"Oh, shut up, and go propose to your lover." He shoved Francis back so he could finish with his other customers.

Francis made his way back to his seat, seeing Christy ordering her food. "I'll take the usual, Sophie." he said sitting down.

She nodded, taking their menus and heading to the back where the cook was.

"So, how's Sophie doing these days? Enjoying the city after her big move?" Francis asked, taking a sip of his Bud.

"She's good, but she was telling me about this outbreak of zombie-like people, their like infected with some disease, I guess it's like the flu, and they just start to transform in to zombies."

"I heard about that on the news. Some bullshit they're coming up with now-a-days, huh?" He chuckled at the thought of a zombie outbreak.

"No, she said it's true. She saw one earlier. They're telling everyone to stay safe and away from anyone with it until it's all figured out."

"She probably saw someone over-dosing, happens all the time downtown."

"Francis," she snapped.

"What, you know it's true." He laughed. "Plus, if anything were to happen, you've got me. I'm invincible, remember?"

Christy rolled her eyes. "Alright, Mr. Invincible. But if I die, I'm haunting you." She laughed.

They continued to joke about the outbreak not knowing what was coming their way.

"Everyone, run for your life, they're coming!" A man yelled, running into the bar.

Everyone looked at him with blank, confused eyes.

"The zombies, they're real, and they're coming for us!" He yelled again. "Run for your life!" He ran out the back door, disappearing into the darkness of the night.

"Well that was random," Rick said as everyone went back to what they were doing.

"You're telling me." Francis laughed, noticing Christy stiffened against his side, gripping his hand. "What's wrong?"

"I hear something." She whispered, trying to listen to outside the bar.

"It's all your imagination, there's no zombies coming our way." He held her hand in his, kissing her cheek. "Believe me."

She sighed and kissed him back.

"Hey, I've got a question for you." Francis stood up, his hand in his pocket. He decided against his original decision of asking her after dinner and instead he was going to ask her now. He was about to get on one knee when a pounding on the door made everyone, including him, look over.

Soon, the door broke down and in came about five very sick-looking people. Pale skin, and blood and dirt covering their clothes. Some people put two and two together and ran out the back door, while others looked at the sick people confused. That is until they started attacking.

The five sickly-looking humans went after the first people they saw, those being the group playing pool by the front door.

*Bang*

A gun shot was heard from behind the counter.

Rick shot his pistol up in the air, hoping it would scare off the things attacking the people trying to play pool. It didn't work and cause three of the five zombies to run his way. Those playing pool were trying to shove them off with their pool sticks.

"What do we do?" Someone asked.

"Kill 'em!" Another yelled back.

"No, they're people, what if they can be healed?" People were now either running, or shoving zombies off of them, confused on whether to kill them or not.

"They can't be healed. They're infected now. It's either kill or be killed." Sophie said, grabbing the second gun under the counter and shooting one in the head, watching it slowly fall the ground.

Everyone stopped and looked at her.

"Kill or be killed" rick said, shooting another.

The sound of gunshots attracted more and more infected people to the open bar.

By this time, Francis had dropped the ring without knowing, and grabbed the bat hanging over the bar, smashing in the zombies heads as they ran towards him and Christy.

"Francis, let's go." Christy said, standing up.

"No, I have to help them. Stay here." He kissed her before running to the door, smashing more as they came in. He noticed a cloud of smoke next to the window, and an infected looking person, with tumors covering his face and neck, was dragging Rick over to him with his extremely long tongue. Francis stopped in his tracks confused, but then ran over, smashing the infected's head in, killing him and letting and rather large amount of smoke fill the room.

"FRANCIS!" He heard Christy yell from the back of the room. He quickly ran over to see a zombie on her, bite marks covering her arms. He kicked the zombie away from her, hitting it with the bloody baseball bat. It fell to the floor dead. He helped Christy up. "Francis, we have to go." She said, brushing her self off. He clothes were ripped to shreds and she could hardly stand. Noticing blood coming from the bite and scratch marks on her arms and face, Francis took her to the bathroom to clean the cuts.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"We need to leave. I don't feel good." She said, gripping her stomach. She quickly turned to the toilet and puked. "Francis, I'm scar-" she cut herself off by puking again. She fell to the floor and a fit of tears. She wasn't sure if she was scared that she was dying or that she was becoming one of them, but she felt it herself slowly losing the energy and life inside her.

"Fight it, Christy. You're going to be okay." He said. He helped her up and walked back out to the counter. He noticed only a few zombies were left, but Sophie was lying on the floor, blood surrounding her, and Rick was puking. He also noticed no one was left in the bar, but some of the zombies had on the same clothes they did. either they became infected, or they can change really quickly. He decided the first option was more likely and took Sophies gun and shot them all.

Rick slowly walked over to him, just as pale as the other, and like the one emitting smoke from earlier, he had tumors all down his face and neck. He shot his long tongue at Francis, but Francis ducked before it could grab him.

"No, Rick. Don't tell me you're infected?" He was answered by Rick going to attack him. Francis kept shoving him off, refusing to shoot his best friend. "I can't kill you man, fight it. Don't become one of them!"

It was too late for Rick, he was fully changed, and all Rick wanted to do was kill and eat Francis.

Having no choice but this, he picked up the gun again and shot his now lost best friend in the head. "I'm sorry." He muttered, shaking his head. Francis was a tough man, but killing his best friend hit him hard. He was about to lose it when he remembered Christy. In the fight against his old buddy, he didn't notice his own girlfriend on the floor coughing up blood. He ran to her side, holding her in his arms. "Fight it, baby." He yelled to her.

She couldn't talk, she only coughed more.

He knew it was the end. There was nothing he could do. His girlfriend of three years was becoming a zombie. He couldn't kill her, no matter what. He knew he had to, but he could't.

He stood up, standing over her, watching her rock back and forth as she cried. He picked up the diamond ring that fell earlier and placed it next to her. As he got closer, she started to growl at him.

He knew he lost her. He grabbed the two pistols and left the bar, heading home on foot.

This night went from the best night ever to the worst night of his life. He killed his best friend and his girlfriend was becoming one of the monsters.

"Nothing could go wrong...yeah, fuck that." He said as he continued his walk home. "I hate zombies."


	2. Chapter 2 A Long Trip to Safety

**A/N: Sorry about the long wait for an update, I was on vacation. To be honest, the only reason I'm updating is because I got a few favourites and story-alerts. but to get to the next chapters, I want honest reviews because I don't want to write the story if no one likes it...So if you like it, or even if you don't and you have suggestions, please review this. :)**

Francis finally turned on to his street, seeing a few infected roaming the neighborhood. He was sick of fighting by this point, so instead, he climbed over the fence and went in the back door.

"How the hell can the entire city be over-run by these fucking zombies in an hour?!" He asked himself as he shoved the table to the front door, blocking anyone from entering. By anyone, he mostly meant the zombies, but he was in no mood to see anyone. He just wanted to wake up from his nightmare. He made his through the living room, greeted by a picture of him and Christy. "I hate zombies..." He punched the picture, shattering the glass and making it fall to the floor. The picture inside gently floated out of the frame and on to his foot. He picked it up, closed his eyes with a sign and folded it in four, placing it in his back pocket.

He left the living room and made his way to his bedroom, stopping in the door way, remembering the conversation he had here not too long ago.

"Why her? Why not me? She was always better. I'm nothing but a screw up. She kept me sane." He placed his index and middle fingers on his temples and tried to make his blistering headache disappear. Without any luck, he dropped his hands and kept muttering to himself about how he should have been the one to change, or if he should have killed her. "She doesn't deserve to live like this, I should have killed her...But what if there's a cure and I just don't know it." He turned on the Tv in his bedroom, changing the channel to the local news.

_"If you are still in the city, leave now. There is an infection and anyone can get it. It's airborne and highly contagious, called the Green Flu. Symptoms include vomiting, coughing, and all of your pigment leaving your body, leaving you with a pale skin-tone. Becoming infected results in the loss of many brain functions and a strongly increased aggression. If you see anyone becoming infected, call the cops and leave. Do not, and we repeat, do not stay with the person turning, yours and their life will be at risk. Police have called in back up from the swat team and army, and they are on their way. If you feel you are contaminated, stay in the city. If not, leave before you get infected. This is an infection anyone can get. It is airborne and highly contagious." _

The newsman repeated his broadcast over and over again, warning everyone to leave before they become infected.

Francis shook his head. "Well this is great. how am I not infected yet? Christy took all of 10 minutes to go from happy Christy, to puking, pale, zombie...This is bullshit." He grabbed a small bag from his closet and made his way downstairs to the kitchen. "Looks like I'm ditching this town." He threw in two water bottles and some food, mostly chips, beans, and Raviolis, knwoing this was going to be a long trip to safety. The last can of beer he had in his fridge, Francis took, opened, and poured in his mouth, finishing it in a matter of seconds. "Well, i'm off to fight for survival. I wonder if any stores have been luted yet? I can always start, I mean I might need a nice new TV when I'm done with the apocalypse." He made his way past the bathroom, quickly stopping to grab a bottle of aspirin, taking one for his headache, and throwing the rest in his packed bag.

He peeked out his window before he went up stairs back to his room.

"One nights sleep can't hurt, right?" he laid down and closed his eyes.

He woke with a jump, hearing a loud bang coming from downstairs. He slowly grabbed his pistol and made his way downstairs.

As soon as he reached the bottom step, the door busted open and a zombie jumped over the table, leaping at his face. He punched it down before it could bite him, shooting it twice in the skull with his pistol.

He looked at the dead creature with confusion. It was in a fancy black suit, that wasn't exactly so nice and neat anymore. He flipped it over, taking out it's wallet.

"He won't need this anymore." Francis took the two twenties he had in the wallet, and threw it back on him. He made his way back upstairs, grabbing his bag and second pistol. "Looks like three hours of sleep will have to do." He said rubbing his eyes, noticing it was now 1:00am. He grabbed a flashlight from the closet and left.

He left through the busted front door, avoiding any zombies he could see, staying in the shadows of the night, heading downtown.

After an hour of walking, he was in the center of downtown. It was almost silent, giving the city and eerie feel to it. The silence made Francis jumpy, any little sound making him quickly turn to see what it was.

He heard heavy breathing coming from behind a car. He slowly made his way around the car to see an infected eating a limb the was just on the ground.

The infected noticed him and tried to attack, but Francis was too quick as he jumped back and shot it four times, the last bullet missing and hitting the car.

_*beep beep beep beep*_

The car alarm broke the silence, waking the entire eerie neighborhood.

"Shit." He backed against the wall, bracing himself for what was to come. And soon, the streets filled with raging infected zombies charged at him. He shot frantically, not aiming, just shooting, hoping it would kill the crowd around him. "AH!" he yelled as a zombie he missed scratched at his arm. He turned to shoot it in the head, resulting in the other zombeis to get closer to him, some scratching, some biting. He punched some back then shot quickly after, but there were too many. "Goddamn, I hate zombies." He quickly reloaded his pistols with some ammunition he found awhile back when there was a small break in zombies.

As soon as he finished, more crowded around him, biting and scratching. He quickly shoved them away, punching and shooting them as fast as he could.

Soon, he was able to run into a nearby store, breaking the glass to jump in. In the store was a sub-machine gun.

"This will help." He pointed the gun at the crowd and held down the trigger until there were no bullets left and all the zombies were dead.

He let out a sigh of relief, grabbed some ammo for his new SMG and filled it up. He placed the new gun around his shoulder with a strap, and left the store.

"Note to self, don't shoot cars."

A growl was heard behind him. He turned and as soon as he saw the zombie, it attacked, making him drop his guns. He was defenseless. The zombie was in a dark hoodie and dark pants, both cuffed with duct tape. the zombie scratched away at Francis defenseless body, not giving him anytime to fight back. All he could do was scream in pain, hoping someone else was still human and brain-functioning and would hear him.

As time went on, he knew he was dead. No one came and he felt as though his life was slowly decreasing, and it was. If no one came soon, Francis would die.

He kept fighting back though, whenever he had a chance, he would try to punch the zombie. It was no use. With his weak body, no guns near him, and the zombie on top of him, killing him, he was dead.

Just as he was about to give up, knowing his life was pointless now anyway, the hooded creature was thrown off him and shot in the head with a shotgun.

"Louis, give me your med-kit, he needs some serious medical attention or he's a goner." A female voice yelled over his body. The voice was sweet and calming, yet stern and sharp.

That was the last thing he remembered before he eyes closed and he was out.


	3. Chapter 3: Mr Invincible

**A/N: Thank you person who's name I do not know who actually reviewed this story. as promised, if I got a review I would continue...and I did...I noticed though that fanfiction isn't publishing my story, well it is, but it doesn't show up in the Left 4 Dead tag...IF you search "I Hate Zombies" though, it shows up...I don't know what is going on, but hopefully it will be fixed and this chapter is shown to the world. But anyway, person who reviewed, thank you again! This chapter is for you.**

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Francis awoke to a loud bang coming from behind him.

"Louis, you're gonna wake him up!" An older man's voice was heard.

"What, am I supposed to leave the door unblocked?"

Another loud bang caused Francis to jump, eyes wide open. It took a second, but soon the pain ripped through his body and he fell back down to the floor where he was previously. This gave him a headache. He slowly opened his eyes again, squinting from the light above him, gazing over his body. Blood was seen all over him through patches of either gauze or band-aids. His ribs, which hurt the most, had the most patching up. His clean white shirt wasn't so clean anymore, in fact, it was hardly a shirt anymore it was so ripped. His jeans were still intact, for the most part anyway. He shook his head and looked over at his shoulder where he was bitten. Moving the shirt back, carefully, he saw that it too had gauze over it, a red tint underneath it.

He looked around the room he was in, confused, he tried to remember what happened. All he could remember was the hooded zombie attacking him and a woman's voice. Next thing he knew he was here.

He shook from his memories feeling a presence next to him.

It was a woman. She was in a dark pink track sweater, jeans, and black converse. Her clothes weren't the cleanest, dirt covered most of her sweater, and she had a few rips in her jeans. He noticed a few cuts on her face, especially one on her forehead which had dried blood around it. The bags under her eyes told him that she hadn't slept in days.

"Damn, you look horrible." He said. _Shit, I wasn't supposed to say that out loud_.

"Speak for yourself." She scoffed, throwing a red medkit at him, turning on her heel about to walk away.

"No, I didn't mean it-" he tried to get up, failing as the pain in his ribs made him fall back down. "Fuck," he said tryign again, this time leaning against the wall behind him for support. He sat there for a moment, catching his breath. "I didn't mean it like that."

She turned back around, looking in his eyes. All she saw was pain and sorrow. She shook her head, grabbing the med kit that had fallen next to him. Taking out a bottle of pills, she took out two aspirins. "Do you remember anything?" She asked, handing him the two pills. "I'm Zoey by the way."

"Francis." He closed his eyes, not wanting to remember. "I remember something in a hood pouncing on me, then, what I believe to be you, shooting it off and saving me."

"Yeah, you passed out. The hunter got you pretty good. You gotta watch yourself out there, these aren't just normal zombies." She said, offering him a hand.

He waved her offering off, and stood on his own, leaning against the wall again. "Since when are any zombies normal?"

She laughed and it reminded him of Christy's laugh. Her smile was almost identical. "That's true," she said, "but as a zombie movie-buff, I can tell you, I've never seen zombies like this even in film."

"Yeah, what are they? I saw one with a long tongue too."

"Those are what we call smokers, when you kill them a cloud of green smoke appears."

"Yeah, I noticed that," Francis said, shifting his weight on to his other leg, trying not to remember his best friend. "You seem to know enough about this zombie outbreak, care to share?"

"Well, to make a long story short, a virus spread around. We don't know how or what caused it, but it became an outbreak here in Pennsylvania. Anyone who isn't immune get's it pretty quickly, and soon, they become one of the infected, or as we call 'em, zombies."

"How do you know if you're immune?" Francis interrupted.

"Believe me, you'd be one of them by now if you weren't. But You might also be a carrier. We are." she pointed to herself and the two men sitting at the table playing cards. "Carriers, well, carry the virus and can pass it on to others who aren't immune. This is why it's so hard to leave the city, and why it spread so fast. the whole process of changing can be pretty fast. We've seen it happen in a matter of minutes."

Francis' mind quickly went back to Christy at the bar and how fast she switched. He nodded, acknowledging that he knew. "So who do you travel with?"

"Right. That's Louis," she said pointing to the dark skinned, skinny man in the white oxford shirt and red tie on the left side of the table. "and Bill." She pointed to the older man in a military uniform, smoking a cigarette on the right side of the table. "And as I said before, I'm Zoey." She turned back to Francis, "and if you don't feel like wandering the zombie apocalypse on your own, you are free to join our mini group."

"Thanks, but-"

"Seriously, you won't survive on your own." She said, cutting him off. She held up a hand, refusing to let him decline.

"Whatever, alright. You guys could use my help." He said, pointing at her cut on her forehead.

"Yeah, alright Mr. Invincible."

Francis scoffed. "That's right, I am pretty invincible."

"Yeah, well if you think hunters and smokers are the only zombies out there, you better think twice. There's plenty more."

"Like what?" Francis rolled his eyes. "I bet I can take 'em."

"Well we got Boomers that puke on you, attracting a horde of zombies to eat you. Oh, and my favourite, the tank."

"Yeah, what's so special about a tank?"

"Well, picture a tank." Francis nodded. "Now picture it being thrown by a giant zombie that with just one punch can send you flying to your death."

"Oh..." He paused. "I can totally take that..."

"Alright, then. We're not done. Last, but most certainly not least, we have the witch. One depressed little zombie who if bothered will kill. She may seem tiny and harmless, but she is brutal to her enemy. One piece of advice, if you hear crying, and see a girl in all white, let he be and avoid her at all costs."

"Alright, well whatever you say. I can take anything that comes my way."

She nodded, throwing the med kit at him, making him flinch as it was unexpected. He almost fell to the floor. "You can take anything that comes your way?"

"Shut up." He said trough his teeth as he regained his balance.

They made their way over to the table where Louis and Bill were sitting. Bill put his cards face down, looking at the biker.

"Well, look who's finally up." He said.

"Glad to see you're okay." Louis said, patting his upper back. "I'm Louis."

"You seem awfully cheerful." Francis sat down with a frown on his face.

"Well, it's only a matter of time before we're safe and all of this is over. We have to keep positive."

"Oh, okay, sure."

"Care to play?" Zoey asked before anything could happen between the two men. She saw their opposite personalities crashing, which could have been bad. She shuffled the cards in front of her, dealing them to everyone.

"No, I hate cards."

"Oh, you'll learn to love 'em when it's all you have for entertainment." Zoey said, handing him his cards.

"Other than shooting zombies." Bill added.

"I'm fine with killing these bastards."

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**A/N: sorry for any grammatical errors. I do not have Microsoft word on my laptop yet, so I'm merely typing this on fanfiction.**

**And sorry for the short chapter, they will get longer I promise.**

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed the third chapter. Pretty soon I'll get into character backgrounds, so keep reading. AND REVIEWING! I love reviews, good and bad, as long as they're reviews. (and if they're bad, please tell me why you didn't like it. constructive criticism-I live for it) **


	4. Chapter 4: How Can You Be So Positive

**A/N: Conner, you're my best friend for the week. Thank you for your review, I'm glad you like it :)**

**I guess I should add a disclaimer to these...I always forget about that. Anyway, I do not own anyone, except Christy...So I guess thank Valve for these wonderful characters that we all love ^_^**

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****"Get some rest, everyone, we're not staying long." Bill said, getting up from his seat at the table. He tossed his few cards to Zoey who was putting them away. "Especially you, Francis. If you plan on travelling with us, you're gonna need some rest."

Louis tossed a green sleeping bag at Francis. "Take this, I don't need it tonight." He grabbed the chair he was previously sitting in and put it closer to the safe room's door. "I'll take guard tonight, Bill. You need some rest too."

"That isn't necessary, but thanks," the older man said as he set up a sleeping bag and pillow behind a counter.

Francis watched the three experienced zombie survivors settle down for the night. He noticed how they all had their own routine, setting up sleeping bags, someone keeping watch. Bill seemed like the leader who knew exactly what to do in a time of war, especially with his military uniform on.

"Hey, Louis, wake me up half way through. I can take over for you," Zoey interrupted Francis thoughts. She yawned and laid down across from Bill.

"I got it tonight, Zoey. Thanks though." Louis smiled at his young, persistent friend, who was ready to pass out any minute.

"Well if you need me-" she cut herself off with a yawn, "I'm here..." She said slowly turning on her side and drifting off to sleep.

Francis got up and walked over to Louis with a chair, sitting down next to him.

"You not tired?" Louis asked.

"Nah, I feel like I slept all day." He stretched, cracking his back. "Not that it was comfortable."

"You basically did, About fifteen hours, I'd say. Can't tell much time anymore, but it was early morning when we found you, and sun just set not to long ago."

"Damn, I was out that long?"

"With an attack like that, I'm surprised you weren't out longer."

"You guys must've patched me up good."

"That's all Zoey. She's real good with healing." Louis yawned.

"You want me to keep watch?"

"No, I'm good. You need your rest."

"Like you just said, I got my rest. Fifteen hours of it, that's plenty. I'm healed enough, I can take these little shits anytime." Francis squared his shoulders, cracking his knuckles.

"I don't doubt that, but what I mean is we travel all day and sometimes night. We don't know when we'll find a safe house again to rest in, and between all that time, we're fighting for our lives out there. It rough. We just want to find safety as soon as possible."

"What safety?" Francis scoffed. " From what I saw, there's nothing but deserted streets out there, with zombies running around trying to eat us."

"Believe me, there's gotta be safety somewhere. We can't be the only survivors. Finding you today gave us more hope."

"How can you be so positive?"

"How can you not? Thinking positive keeps us going. It helps us find safety every night."

"No, safe rooms help you find safety every night." Francis rolled his eyes.

"You've been at this for, what, a day? We've been in this mess, travelling all over Pennsylvania, for over two weeks now. In a short time, we've become a family, and in this family, we believe there is safety out there. That's the only thing keeping us going, especially Zoey." He looked over to the sleeping college student. "This has been really rough on her." He looked back at Francis.

"You're telling me," Francis mumbled to himself. "So are you and Zoey..." He paused, not sure how to ask this. "Are you and Zoey, ya know-"

"Dating? No." Louis chuckled. "No, she's like a little sister to me. Why, do you-"

"No." Francis cut him off before he could even ask. "No, I don't want a relationship right now." He said calmly.

Louis noticed the change in his voice, posture, and attitude. "Alright, sorry if I offended you."

"No, you didn't, I just..." He shook his head. "Forget it. So before all this mess, what did you do for fun?" He changed the subject, trying to get the image of Christy out of his mind.

"I was a Junior Systems Analyst for two years in the IT department at Franklin Brothers down in Philly."

"That sounds...fun." Francis said trying to comprehend what the hell all that was. _Business something _is what he came to terms with in his mind.

"Not really. Right before infection, I was mustering up the courage to quit, but I guess I didn't need to, the zombies did that for me."

"How'd you come in contact with the zombies?" Francis asked, trying to keep conversation going.

"It's actually kind of funny and ironic. I was telling one of my co-workers, Hank, that the press was over reacting about all of it. I was close to convincing him, but then an infected walked out of the bathroom stall and tried to attack us. Luckily, it was my lunch break, and I was going to spend it at the shooting range across the street, so I had my gun. I was able to kill that zombie, but when I left the bathroom, the whole floor was ruined. My office was shattered, along with everyone else's, and everyone was on the floor, dead. That's when I realized the press wasn't over reacting, but not reacting enough. Outside my building was chaos. I made sure my pistol was loaded and I snuck out the back way to make my way home. On my way, I met up with Bill and Zoey. We've been travelling over Pennsylvania since. How 'bout you?"

"Pretty much the same. Just not at work, but instead at a bar, having a few drinks." He tried to play himself off as cool, rather than tell Louis the truth, rather than tell him that he was at the bar ready to propose to his long time girlfriend and love of his life. "I was telling some hot chick that the zombies were nothing, then used some lines on her, ya know, crap like 'if they are real, I can protect you.' then I showed her my muscles. I was about to leave with her, but the zombies busted down the door. I was the only survivor left in the bar, so I took the gun from under the counter, and made my way home. Grabbed a bag full of stuff at home, and left. Then you guys found me." Francis cleared his throat, trying to see if Louis would buy his lies. _He doesn't need to know everything about me._ He thought to himself.

"Oh, well I guess not everyone believed the news at first, am I right?" Louis chuckled. "Good thing we had those guns with us."

"Yeah..."

There was a long silence after this. Louis watched the door, leaning back in his chair, SMG tight in his hands against his stomach. Francis twiddled his thumbs, bored, but not tired.

After a few more minutes of silence, Francis finally got up and grabbed a the sleeping bag on the table. Louis watched him set up his sleeping bag over against the wall where he was laying before. He some him grab something from his back pocket and turn on his side. It looked like a picture folded up.

* * *

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed the new chapter. Got a little background on Louis, and Louis learned a little about Francis.**


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